A night at the Temple of the Moon (edit)

[Ben Egbert]

One of the goals for our recent meet up was to shoot the Milky Way at the Temple of the Moon and Sun. Jim and I scouted both temples to see where we could get a good view of the Milky Way and include one or both Temples. The moon was going to be a bit over half so we wanted it at our back to illuminate the terrain while not dominating the sky. This view of the Temple of the Moon was the best choice. I should say Jim's choice because he was doing most of the planning and I was his pupil.

Jim persuaded me to use my 11-24 f4 with the idea that a wider FL allowed me to shoot for a longer time and keep the ISO lower. I was shooting at 20 and 25 seconds and f4.

The moon was so bright I was able to walk to the location without a headlamp. Getting focus was hard but I eventually did. The lens is pretty sharp at f4 and when focused at infinity has a dof that easily included the Temple.

I sat the alarm for 1:00 AM and we shot until the moon sat at 3:00 AM. I took a lot of images, but because of cloud cover, only one is truly as bright as this one, or as at the end, the shadow from the setting moon was creeping up the side of the Temple. I want to see the terrain as bright as possible so I choose this one.

I am pretty new at processing MW shots so I am not sure about the sky color here. Jim and Alisia were with me so we may see more from this night

CC welcome.

Removed vehicles.

 

[AlanLichty]

Neat shot. I might be inclined to clone out the vehicles at the base of the Temple. I like the sky treatment - this type of rendering looks realistic.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Alan, yes, I should clone out Jeffreys landing pod.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Fantastic! This is one of the more impressive MW shots I've seen on this site, other than Jim's. The stars look great, the clouds really add to it, but the moonlit Temple takes it over the top. I agree with Alan on cloning out the vehicles, but I didn't notice them until he mentioned it.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Jim very high praise. I was posting the cloned version as you were posting this reply.

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Ben that is beautiful, great job!

 

[Amy Nelson]

Ben this gorgeous! Maybe darken down the fore ground to the right, the color artifacts are a little distracting from the wonderful MW.

 

[JimFox]

Awesome work Ben! It's amazing how much you have improved with Milky Way photos from last year to this year. The Milky Way does indeed look very good and realistic.

While there is a lot to be said for shooting the Milky Way at a complete new moon so the Milky Way really stands out, your photo serves to prove the value of just letting the moon be the light painter on the ground elements. It's very natural looking, and despite the moon up we still can get a very impressive Milky Way. The other advantage of using this method is that in many National Parks using light sources at night to light paint is illegal, so to do it naturally works great because no one can complain.

 

[JimFox]

Congrats on the Daily Featured Post Ben!

@Ben Egbert

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks for the honor Jim, owe a lot to your tutelage. I did l find the warp tool and used it sparingly because I thought the upward look fit pretty well.

 

[Jeffrey]

Superb work, Ben. You nailed it.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Very nice work Ben. The composition, naturally lit temple and the MW, of course. Like the processing as well. And congrats on the feature.

 

[Bob]

Ben,
This is a really nice shot. I like the moonlight on the Temple.

 

[Nilo Photography]

Nicely done and congratulation on your feature!

 

[Kyle Jones]

Came out really nice Ben!

 

[Ben Egbert]

Ben that is beautiful, great job!

Thanks Darcy

Ben this gorgeous! Maybe darken down the fore ground to the right, the color artifacts are a little distracting from the wonderful MW.

Thanks Amy, I need to see if I can get this bright enough to print, I will watch that area where I do. I think you were dealing with a flat that evening.

Superb work, Ben. You nailed it.

Thanks Jeffrey.

Very nice work Ben. The composition, naturally lit temple and the MW, of course. Like the processing as well. And congrats on the feature.

Thanks Jameel, nice complement from one of your post processing talents.

Ben,
This is a really nice shot. I like the moonlight on the Temple.

Thanks Bob glad you liked the light on the Temple.

Nicely done and congratulation on your feature!

Thanks Nilo

Came out really nice Ben!

Thanks Kyle, I read your tutorials before processing it.

 

[MonikaC]

Nice job on this all around, Ben!

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Monica, and for the record, this was shot at 14mm, 11mm was too wide and produced to much distortion when pointing up.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Wow!!! I wish this was in my portfolio, Ben.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Just fantastic! The Temple of the Moon with the Moon shining on it and Milky Way overhead - it doesn't get any better than that!



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